This is how fennel gets milder

Season for fennel: Anise flavor becomes milder when heated

The Italians have many recipes for their beloved fennel. Even in German kitchens, the tuber is increasingly on the table. The aniseed taste is not for everyone. If you first have to get used to the sweetish aroma, you can combine the fennel with other vegetables such as tomatoes and peppers.

Fennel tastes raw in a salad with carrots and apples. A delicious appetizer are thinly sliced ​​and marinated in lemon juice fennel strips. By heating, the taste is a bit milder. For a simple fennel vegetable, the tuber can be quartered lengthwise and boiled in salted water with the juice of half a lemon for 10 to 15 minutes. This is, with some butter refined, the perfect side dish to poultry, fish and seafood. Try the extraordinary vegetables in pastas and Asian wok.

The vegetable fennel, also called tuber fennel, originally comes from the Mediterranean region. The edible part is not a tuber, but an above-ground onion. Before cooking, wash the fennel thoroughly to remove the sand between the leaves. Stems, dark spots and the root are removed. Now halve the tuber, remove the hard core and cut the rest into slices, slices or cubes according to the recipe. The leaf green is an excellent spice for salads and soups.

Until October fennel is available from local cultivation. Fresh tubers are white to light green in color, have a firm texture and a rich green foliage. Brown discoloration and dried cut surfaces indicate too long storage. Fresh fennel tastes best. Wrapped in a damp cloth, he stays in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator for a week or two.

Like every vegetable, the fennel is low in calories. Valuable ingredients are vitamins A, C and E, folic acid, iron, magnesium, potassium and calcium. The typical taste is primarily due to essential oils such as Anethole and Fenchon, which, among other things, have a positive effect on digestion. Fennel seeds in tea and bread spices should relieve bloating and help with constipation and bloating. Heike Kreutz, bzfe.de